The Zhuhai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, just over the Macau border, opened at the end of October for a trial run, with the Zhuhai International Automobile Exhibition.

Expected to be a landmark for Zhuhai’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives Conference, Exhibitions) industry, the centre has a grand theatre, and hotels are due to open nearby in due course.The Zhuhai Huafa Sheraton Hotel is expected to be operational soon, while a 63-storey St. Regis Zhuhai Hotel is due to open in 2016.

The convention wing of the centre provides a 2,000-square metre plenary hall, an opera theatre, concert hall and 35 meeting rooms. The exhibition wing has six exhibition halls at ground level, each of which occupies about 5,000 square metres of column-free, high–ceiling space. The property was developed by Zhuhai’s state-owned Huafa Group.

The president of the Macau Federal Commercial Association of Convention and Exhibition Industry, Harry Wu, says the fast development of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry in Zhuhai will challenge the MICE industry in Macau but will also bring opportunities for Macau’s meetings and exhibitions enterprises.